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Holland America Line named Marine Environmental Business of the Year by Port of Seattle

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Ports & Destinations Ports & Destinations; Published: 24 May 2014 24 May 2014

Holland America Line was named the 2014 Marine Environmental Business of the Year by the Port of Seattle. Port commissioner Courtney Gregoire presented the award to Keith Taylor, senior vice president, fleet operations, at the Seattle Propeller Club's Maritime Festival Lunch held Tuesday, May 13, 2014, aboard Carnival Miracle, which was docked at Port of Seattle.

The cruise line was recognized for its efforts to reduce its global environmental footprint through a series of objectives that greatly reduce consumption of fuel and water, engine emissions and generation of solid waste, along with increasing recycling across its fleet of 15 ships.

"Holland America Line is a company that takes corporate citizenship to heart, and we are honored to be recognized by the Port of Seattle for our efforts," said Stein Kruse, Holland America Line's president and chief executive officer. "We remain steadfast in a firm belief that we can grow our company while employing responsible business practices for sustainable ship operations - and keep improving on our efforts."

Holland America Line also was named Environmental Business of the Year in 2010 and this year received the highest level of the Green Gateway Partner Award from the Port of Seattle in March 2014 for its use of shore power and comprehensive practices to reduce emissions. Every year Holland America Line sets goals and targets for its fleet that include decreasing fuel consumption, conserving energy, reducing the loss of refrigerant gasses, increasing recycling and decreasing water use.

The only cruise line recipient of the Rear Admiral William M. Benkert Environmental Protection Award from the U.S. Coast Guard in 2012, Holland America Line's ships meet or exceed all provisions of the international regulations governing the environmental management of marine operations. But the company aims for superior environmental performance while operating responsibly via a firm promise to reduce all forms of pollution through improved policies, scientifically sound practices, consistent training of employees and innovative technology.

The company is among the pioneers in the maritime industry when it comes to investing in technology to reduce engine emissions while a ship is at berth. Six of the 15 Holland America Line ships - ms Amsterdam, ms Veendam, ms Noordam, ms Oosterdam, ms Westerdam, and ms Zuiderdam - use shore power at the ports of Seattle, San Diego and Port Metro Vancouver.

Holland America Line has a partnership with Marine Conservation Institute, a globally focused nonprofit organization based in Washington State dedicated to maintaining healthy, living oceans. The program includes guest and staff education, funding for marine conservation biology research, and a sustainable seafood program with environmentally responsible purchasing practices and menus that showcase sustainable seafood.

"Congratulations to the more than 16,000 worldwide employees at Holland America Line for receiving this esteemed award," said Courtney Gregoire, co-President of the Port of Seattle Commission. "Through hard work and dedication, Holland America Line has made a true commitment to environmental stewardship."

Holland America Line ships have been sailing from the Port of Seattle since the early 1970s. In May 2002, Holland America Line began using Seattle as a homeport for Alaska cruises. This year the company has two ships based in Seattle sailing 32 Alaska cruises from May through September.

Cruise season begins at the Port of Montreal

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Ports & Destinations Ports & Destinations; Published: 17 May 2014 17 May 2014

The first ship of the 2014 cruise season will anchor in Montréal on May 17. Holland America’s Maasdam will arrive from Fort Lauderdale at 8 a.m. with over 1,266 passengers on board. For the trip, the ship was chartered by Olivia Travel, an agency specializing in vacations for the lesbian community.

The 219 metre long cruise ship is a Port of Montréal regular. In 2014 alone, it will arrive a total of 12 times. During this visit to the city, the Maasdam will allow its passengers to explore Montréal and its cuisine, attractions, and shops through city tours and several activities before returning to Boston at the end of the day.

"Cruises are at the heart of our strategic planning for the coming years. We have ambitious objectives for this high-potential market, and we are working together with members of the Montréal Cruise Committee to attain them,” affirms Yves Lalumière, President and CEO of Tourisme Montréal. “We not only want to attract cruise travelers to the city, but we would also like to make Montrealers more aware of this unique way to tour and discover the St. Lawrence River."

Cruising with the wind in their sails

In 2014, three ships will be anchoring in Montréal for the first time: the all new Pearl Mist, the Hamburg, and the Seabourn Quest. A fourth ship, the Europa, will be back in the city after only one previous stopover in 2004.

The cruise season to Montréal on the St. Lawrence River runs from May to November and is in full swing in September and October, with travelers showing up to admire the colours of the fall.

Last year, the Port of Montréal welcomed 47 cruise ships and a record 55,611 passengers. Including crews, nearly 70,000 people boarded or disembarked in Montréal, 70% of whom were international tourists. Between 2012 and 2013, the number of cruise passengers dramatically increased by 47%. These numbers are the result, in particular, of the work of the Montréal Cruise Committee, a group created in 2011.

"I would like to commend the excellent work of the Montréal Cruise Committee, whose efforts are yielding positive results. I anticipate with great enthusiasm the 2014 cruise season, which looks to be very promising,” adds Sylvie Vachon, President and CEO of the Port of Montréal.

Supported by Tourisme Québec, the Montréal Cruise Committee comprises the Montréal Port Authority and Tourisme Montréal, as well as six other local associations and organisations: Aéroports de Montréal (Montréal airports), the Old Port of Montréal Corporation, the Montréal Casino, the Old Montréal Business Development Corporation, the Hotel Association of Greater Montréal and the City of Montréal.

SATS consortium pulls out of Singapore Cruise Centre acquisition

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Ports & Destinations Ports & Destinations; Published: 15 May 2014 15 May 2014

A consortium comprising SATS Airport Services and SATS Creuers Cruise Service, both parts of Singapore Airport tErminals Services (SATS) group, and Hazeltree Holding, the current owner of Singapore Cruise Centre, have decided to terminate talks about the sale of the facility to the consortium.

“The Purchasers and the Vendor have agreed not to proceed with the Acquisition and to terminate the SPA due to market developments in Asia. The non-completion of the Acquisition is not expected to have a material financial impact on SATS,” the company said in a statement

Said Mr Alex Hungate, President and CEO of SATS: “This announcement does not in any way alter SATS’ commitment to grow our successful operations at the Marina Bay Cruise Centre and to promote Singapore as a homeport, nor our ambition to pursue regional cruise opportunities. We remain confident about the prospects for the Asian cruise market and will continue to actively pursue value-creating opportunities to implement our strategy of growing scale and enhancing connectivity.”

Twelve cruise ships at the 825th anniversary of the German port of Hamburg

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Ports & Destinations Ports & Destinations; Published: 14 May 2014 14 May 2014

Over the weekend from the 9 until the 11May 2014, twelve cruise ships visited the Port of Hamburg and were counted in total with 27 sail-by passages in front of the Landungsbrücken landing stages.

“Overall, 37,000 cruise passengers were handled during the three days of celebration. The cruise ships prominently showed themselves to the nearly one million visitors of the Port Anniversary, who were able to experience the ocean giants’ close-up,” Hamburg Cruise Centre that operates two cruise terminals in the German city, said in a statement

Canary Islands re-discovers itself for cruise

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Ports & Destinations Ports & Destinations; Published: 02 May 2014 02 May 2014

Promotur, Turismo Canarias - the organization responsible for the promotion of tourism in the Canary Islands is developing a long term Cruise Tourism Strategic Plan for the archipelago and has retained the Cruise Port and Destination Development firm of Bermello Ajamil and Partners Europe (BA Europe) to deliver this assignment.

The project kick-off and first stakeholder outreach meetings took place at the beginning of April in the Canary Islands. Representatives from the local port authorities of Puertos de Estado, tourism institutions from Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro, tourism promotional agencies, Canary Islands Government, Puertos de Canarias, international and local port agents, tour operators and other industry players are all part of the outreach efforts led by the Mark Ittel and Luis e Carvalho from the BA Europe Team.

The purpose of these initial meetings was to collect feedback from all the parties involved in the cruise business and to align everyone’s purposes to develop a common strategy and action plan where everyone shares responsibilities and contributes to the “re-discovery” of the Canaries as a cruise destination.

"Turismo de Canarias is keen to implement the study recommendations as we believe it is necessary to have a common strategy that illustrates our advantages over other competing destinations worldwide and helps us to improve all aspects that can weigh on the consolidation of the Canary Islands as a cruise destination in the coming years. We believe that there are great opportunities to further explore the untapped potential and offers on our 7 very different islands to regular visitors but also to further attract new consumer markets from the EU, US and beyond" , informed Tourism Promotur de Canarias.

The proximity of the islands to the Mediterranean, Madeira, Azores, main land Portugal, North Africa, West Africa and Cape Verde in addition to being strategically located for transatlantic and re-positioning cruises is an added value that will be further explored.
Recently the Canary Islands experienced an evolution in the number of cruise visitors reaching its peak in 2012 with 1.725.889 passengers on all islands.

In 2013 the number has decreased slightly to 1.624.473 passengers (-5,9%) which presents a very powerful argument to implement a global strategy for cruise tourism to assure a prosperous cruise tourism growth for the islands.

“This is a long-term project that will require a lot of work and commitment from everyone involved, and that is also the secret of our success – Team Work. Our ultimate goals include improving the image of Canarias as a cruise destination and ensuring that we keep growing our cruise business in a sustainable manner for years to come. In the process we wish not only for cruise lines to improve their revenue opportunities and guest satisfaction levels, but to also generate increased economic benefits from cruise to the local communities,” says Promotur.